The Prince or the Pauper
by starfishify
Summary: Urchin makes a deal with the Sea Witch to follow his friend Ariel onto land. Ariel must win the love of the Prince, but Urchin begins to question if Eric is really the right one for her, or maybe if he himself is. A what-if version of TLM, ArielxUrchin.
1. Prologue

Summary: When Urchin discovers his best friend Ariel has gone onto land, he makes a deal with the Sea Witch to follow her. Ariel has three days to win the Prince's love, and Urchin means to help her do it. But it isn't long before he begins to wonder if the Prince is really the right one for Ariel, or maybe if he himself is. But what chance does a pauper stand against a prince? A what-if version of The Little Mermaid (ArielxUrchin) possibly with a very different ending. Read and see!

Thank you to kittyboy02 on deviantArt for your ideas!

...

PROLOGUE

My name is Urchin, and I can tell you that living under the sea isn't all that bad, at least not as bad as my best friend Ariel always made it out to be. Ariel had this idea that everything was better up on land; she imagined people spending their time dancing and having fun or just lying around in the sun, as if they didn't have any cares in the world. She said there were so many wonderful things up there that how could a person every feel sad or lonely? I wasn't so sure about that. I wasn't brought up in the royal palace like Ariel was; I grew up in the grimiest trenches of the ocean floor, full of all sorts of shady characters, and I didn't think anyplace could really be as nice and pleasant and carefree as Ariel said the world above was. People were people wherever you go, whether they were humans or merpeople or fish or slimy monsters, and sometimes they could be nice but most of the time they'd rather you weren't around so they didn't have to deal with you. That's how I saw it. But this story isn't really about me; it's about Ariel.

Ariel and I were always getting into the craziest adventures: playing pranks on her sisters, befriending wild sea creatures, exploring caves and finding treasure, and just generally getting into trouble in exactly the places where her father King Triton didn't want us to be. She was a princess, after all, and it wasn't exactly proper for her to be hanging out with a pauper like me – though admittedly the crazy adventures and all the trouble we got into were always her idea.

See, I met Ariel about three years before, when I saved her from the gang of crooks I had fallen in with. They had kidnapped her and held her for ransom, but I went against my gang and set her free. Then her father the King offered to adopt me and take me into the palace. I thanked him but definitely declined. I was too used to freedom to be stuck in the palace, having to act proper and do what the adults told me, having to get up and go to bed when they said and even go to school. And maybe there was something else that bothered me about the idea: maybe I didn't want to be Ariel's brother. Maybe I wanted to be something else.

Anyway I knew that kind of life wasn't for me, so I stayed in my little cave where I lived by myself and was happy just to drop in on the palace every now and then. I was always welcome as a friend of the princess, and though King Triton tolerated having me around it was pretty obvious the only person in the palace really happy to see me was Ariel. I liked it better when she came to visit me instead, and then we could do what we like and go where we like, as long as she got back to the palace before she was missed. I wondered what that was like: being missed by someone. The only person I ever missed was Ariel, when she was too busy with school or music lessons or palace business to come visit me.

But I was busy with my own kind of business: I had to find work and do odd jobs to support myself. When I couldn't get any money I had to steal. I'm not proud of it, but you'll find you'll do a whole lot you never imagined yourself doing if you get hungry enough. I fell in with crooks and villains again, and spent more and more time down in the deep slimy trenches on the seafloor where all the shady business takes place. I was young and a fast swimmer, so they had use for me. While my best friend Ariel was playing games and sitting at banquets in the palace, I was breaking in through windows and stealing loot for other people. As we grew older we found we didn't have much in common to talk about.

But that didn't mean we weren't still friends. Ariel showed me her secret grotto: a cave full of strange and mysterious objects she had gathered from shipwrecks. There were hard shiny things that sparkled in the light, and paintings of strange things we had never seen before. There were whole chests full of clothes, huge ridiculous things that Ariel said humans wear on their bodies. Merpeople don't wear much; I don't think I've ever worn anything on my body, and I imagined it must be pretty uncomfortable to wear such heavy things. There was a little box with a human man and woman on it; Ariel told me they were dancing, and when she twisted the little knob, music came out of the box. A lot of the stuff I had helped her gather when we went exploring. The human objects didn't mean anything to me, but they did to Ariel, and that was enough for me.

"Would you run away to the human world," I asked her, "if you could?"

"Yes," she answered, "Just to see it."

"What if it isn't as nice as you imagine it?"

"Or," Ariel replied playfully, "what if it's so amazingly nice that I stay there forever and never come back?"

"Well that would be even worse," I replied, matching her playful tone, "because then I would be left all alone and never see you again."

"Don't be silly! I would take you with me!" she said happily. Then she wound up her music box and we stopped talking to listen to it.

She was fascinated by the humans, though the closest she ever got to them was their sunken ships full of strange objects that didn't seem to have any use to me. But she always saw them differently; she could tell me what each strange object was used for, and mused over who used it last and what they were like and what happened to them, and that way she made it clear to me how that weird little object that I would have taken as trash was really something very special. It turns out she did the same for me. When everybody else saw me as worthless, Ariel saw different. She listened to what I had to say, as if what I thought was important. That was what was so great about Ariel: everything was worth something to her, and she would fight for it even if no one else would. So even if I had my doubts about her fantastical human world, I never said any of that to her; I just listened to her talk about the world above, with its dancing and music and cities and ships, and imagined how nice it could be if only the world was the way she imagined it.

I never saw her so happy as when she was in her grotto, listening to her strange little music box, spinning in circles in time to the music, her long red hair streaming around her. The shiny objects lining the cave cast little lights that danced around her. She was smiling so sweetly and humming along - I can still see that image in my head so clearly, because it was then I realized how beautiful she was. I was sitting on a rock and I caught a glimpse of my own blond-headed reflection in a shiny little mirror, and I realized how much we had both grown since we had met three years ago. We were thirteen years old when we met, and though we were about the same age, I had been smaller and scrawnier than her, probably because I was half-starved and living in a cave. But I had grown bigger than her since then, and wasn't that scrawny awkward little boy I used to be. And she herself had always been a pretty girl, but now pretty had turned into beautiful. I started feeling something I hadn't ever felt before, and it alarmed me a little, so I pushed it down quickly and tried never to think of it again. She was a princess after all, and I was lucky just to be able to call her my friend. I hoped we could be friends forever.

...

We had had adventures before, but what was about to come was so much bigger, so much different than any of that, that it turned all those "adventures" into children's games. What was coming would change everything. This is where Ariel's story really begins.

The day it began was the day of the big concert, in which Ariel and her sisters would all be singing, and to which everyone in the kingdom was invited. Usually I wouldn't go to that sort of thing, but I went to see Ariel. Her sisters all sang great, but when the time came for Ariel to pop out of a giant clam and sing her solo, the clam opened dramatically and everyone gasped. The music grinded to a stop. Ariel wasn't there. Of course she wasn't there, I thought. Why would she show up to something lame like this when she could be off having one of her adventures? And then I couldn't help it: I started laughing hysterically. Everyone else in the audience was mortified, and staring in horror, and I just laughed and laughed and laughed until my sides hurt. Frankly I was glad she ditched the concert, because she was still the Ariel I had always known, and I for one could depend on her to _not _be there.

So I swam off still smiling to see if I could find her, and get the whole story out of her. I figured she would be off exploring the new shipwreck I had told her about yesterday; I had run across it the other day while out on a scouting job for one of the thief lords I worked for, and though it didn't really interest me, I knew Ariel would just die to go see it. But before I could go meet up with her, one of said thief lords caught me and called me over, a huge lobster with one good eye and a nasty claw. He had me out doing jobs for him all afternoon, and I didn't find Ariel until the evening. I couldn't find her in the palace, so I figured she was in her grotto.

Only me, her, and Flounder knew about the grotto, and how to get in the secret entrance. I pushed aside the boulder and swum through the narrow crack, into the little tunnel that lead to the cave. I could hear her up ahead talking to her little fish friend Flounder, and I smiled and thought I would jump out and scare her. But then I heard her start singing, and I stopped. I hid myself behind a rock pillar, in the shadows, and I saw her floating there in front of me. She didn't notice me; she was looking upwards, up into the beam of light flowing down through the little skylight at the top of the cave, and her red hair in long ribbons around her. The light sparkled off the scales of her tail. She was singing the most beautiful song, and I couldn't help but just hide behind my rock and listen. She sung about how she wanted to leave behind the sea and go up on land; she wanted to dance and run and stroll down streets, and lie basking in the sun. She wanted to be among the humans and see all their wonderful things; she said she wanted to be "part of their world."

I had been planning on jumping out, or at least announcing myself to her, but in the end I couldn't bring myself to do it. It would just be awkward now. Her song had made me sad for some reason. I didn't exactly understand it, but now I do. I hadn't realized how much this mysterious human world had meant to her. I thought it was just a fantasy, something to think about during boring school lessons or escape to when life got hard, but to her it was more than that. It was her hopes of how the world should be. A world where you would never be yelled at by your parents or have to spend long boring hours in school, where you weren't constantly being molded and forced into something you didn't want to be. For me, it would be a world where people wouldn't care if I was poor or an orphan or a criminal, where the adults weren't constantly trying to reform me and "mend my ways". A world where you are accepted and fit in, no matter who you are. Ariel and I were very different, but neither one of us had ever really fit in.

But the reason the song made me sad was because I realized how unhappy she was here. I wasn't exactly happy with my situation in life either, but I could deal with it, and I got by just fine. But Ariel wasn't satisfied to just deal with it. I realized she might do something drastic, like swim away from home; in fact, I was sure she would. I was sad because she wanted to be part of another world, and that meant leaving this one behind. I was part of this world. She would leave me behind, and if that thought had occurred to her, apparently it didn't bother her as much as it bothered me. Being a part of that other world meant not being a part of mine.

Just then a shadow passed overhead, and Ariel became excited because it was one of the human's ships. A real live ship, not a sunken dead one, and I knew she would chase after it just to get a glimpse. Normally I would have followed her, but I didn't feel like it now. I turned and snuck out of the grotto before she ever noticed I was there, and I made my way home alone.

...

I didn't have any business to take care of the next day, or rather I was avoiding it. I was swimming around, not really going anywhere, and feeling kind of down in the dumps. Then I saw Flounder swimming up – Ariel's little fish friend. He's pretty young and scared of his own shadow, and not much good in a fight, but he's loyal and I'm fond of the little guy.

"Urchin," he called. "Are you busy? I could use your help."

"Sure!" I answered. "What is it?"

"It's something for Ariel," he answered. He swam off and I followed him, and he led me to a place on the sea floor where a lot of human garbage had sunk. It looked like a ship had gone down in the storm last night. Flounder led me to a huge stone statue that had landed on the sandy bottom. It was a human, a young man, carved out of stone. "I want to give this to Ariel," Flounder explained. "Can you help me get it to her grotto? As a surprise for her!"

I looked at the statue skeptically and asked, "What exactly is it?"

Flounder looked bashful, as if he was hiding something, and I finally raked it out of him. He told me the story of what had happened yesterday, and it turns out Ariel had gone up to the surface to follow the ship – as I knew she would – and she had seen real live humans up close. A storm had brewed up and totally destroyed the ship, but all the humans escaped into the lifeboat except one – the Prince. He had fallen into the water, but Ariel had saved him and swam him to shore.

"What?" I exclaimed. I had never seen a real human before, and probably wouldn't believe they existed if Ariel and I weren't always finding their stuff. But to know Ariel had seen them herself suddenly made them much more real than before. I couldn't help but feel a little jealous of her for seeing them, and I hated myself for not following her last night. "She really saved a human?" I asked. "Did she, like, talk to him?"

"Well, he was unconscious," Flounder answered, and I breathed a sigh of relief. "Ariel jumped back into the water as soon as he came around." He darted up to the head of the stone statue. "But the human – the one she saved – this is a statue of him."

"Really?" I asked. "But why would she want a statue of him? I mean, it will take up a whole lot of space in her grotto, and, it looks kind of ridiculous if you ask me-"

"Because she's in love with him!" Flounder blurted, and then flinched at his mistake.

I just stared, totally bewildered. "In love?" I asked. I had never seen Ariel in love before. It didn't really seem like her. But then, I guess we were getting older. But in love with a human? To be honest, some part of me was glad it was a human and not a merman. I would have felt pretty awful if it had been another merman. I looked at the face of the stone statue and tried to imagine what he looked like in real life – handsome, I guess.

"Please don't tell anyone!" Flounder gasped. "I mean, I'm sure it's just a crush, and she'll get over it. No need to tell her father-"

"Flounder," I interrupted with a grin, "Have I ever snitched to Ariel's father about anything? Now, to get this statue to her grotto, we're going to need some help. I'll go get a few friends to help move it - someone big, like a whale - and we'll have it there in an hour or two."

"Thanks, Urchin!" Flounder said. "Ariel will be so happy when she sees it. We'll tell her it's from both of us."

"Yeah," I agreed, but for some reason I hesitated. I didn't want to say it was from me. I wanted to leave before she saw it. But I tied it up with ropes from the shipwreck and also threw some sailcloth over it, and then I found a couple of orca friends of mine who owed me a favor, and we hauled the statue to her grotto pretty easily without attracting too much attention. Everyone thought we were just movers carrying something big and fancy to the palace.

Once we had the statue nicely situated in the grotto, Flounder went to go find Ariel and bring her to see it. I slipped out before they came back, but lurked behind long enough to hear Ariel's cries of joys when she saw it. I could tell from her voice it was true: she was in love with him. I couldn't believe it. My best friend in love with a human, who she hadn't even properly met, and who there was absolutely no chance of ever being with anyways. Why him of all people? I just felt confused. I swam away and left my friends behind in the grotto with the statue; I had work to go do for a certain criminal lobster. Ariel didn't like to hear about the work I did, and I didn't like to tell her. I left without talking to her because for the first time I felt I had nothing to say to her.

...

Later that day I was hauling a sack of loot to the gang headquarters, down in a slimy seaweed-covered trench, when I heard frantic cries behind me. It was Flounder, and he looked mortified. He was calling my name, and I dropped the sack and swam to him.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I shouted. He was babbling out words between breaths but I couldn't make them out.

"It's Ariel," he gasped at last, "she's gone."

"Gone? Gone where?"

"Land," he said.

"What?" I demanded. If she had swam away from home she wouldn't get very far; she had tried to swim away a few times and was always back to the palace before dinner time. All this meant was I would have to swim after her and bring her home.

"She made a deal with the Sea Witch," Flounder gasped, and then I felt cold chills running down me, because I realized this wasn't like all the times before. This time it was bad. "Her father was angry with her," Flounder explained, "so she swam away to the Sea Witch's lair. The Sea Witch knew what she wanted: that she wanted to go on land and be with the human Prince. So she made a deal with Ariel, and Ariel accepted."

Now I was starting to panic, because I had heard of Ursula the Sea Witch – so had everyone in the kingdom - and they all feared her, even the criminals and murderers I did business with, who didn't even fear the King. "What kind of deal?" I demanded, afraid of the answer.

"Ariel traded her voice in exchange for legs," Flounder answered, and I felt my heart drop into my stomach.

"You mean she's human?" I shouted.

"Yes! She's got legs instead of a tail! She can't even breathe underwater! Me and Sebastian swam her up to the surface really fast, and the Prince found her there and took her to his castle."

"She's with the human Prince?"

"Yes, but she can't talk, because Ursula took her voice."

"Well then we have to get her," I said, "and bring her back home!"

"Urchin, she signed a contract with the Sea Witch! She can never come home."

"What did this contract say exactly?" I knew I had to help Ariel, but I was trying to figure out how.

"It's bad," Flounder said. "The contract says she has three days as a human, today being the first. If she gets the kiss of true love from the Prince before the sun sets on the third day, she can stay human forever. But if she doesn't get the kiss, she belongs to the Sea Witch."

I stared in disbelief. This was the worst thing I had heard in my entire life, and only Ariel could have got into this kind of trouble. She had gambled her entire life on getting a stupid kiss. And only three days, to make someone fall in love with her? Without a voice, on top of it all? It sounded near impossible. But if she failed, she belonged to the Sea Witch, and I didn't even think about that much because I refused to let it happen. But if she did get the kiss, she would be human forever, and I realized that either way she could never come home again. Things could never again be the same.

But that didn't matter now; what mattered was making sure the Sea Witch didn't get her. Ariel might not be able to pull this off on her own, but she could with some help. I had to help her however I could, and that meant going to the Sea Witch myself.


	2. The First Day

THE FIRST DAY

Flounder tried to stop me, but Ariel needed help badly, and he knew it. When the Sea Witch's cave came into view, I could see him grow horribly afraid, and I told him to stay behind. I was pretty scared myself to tell the truth. Stories were always floating around on the edges of conversations, always in whispers, about the Sea Witch and the strange and unnatural things she did.

I swam into the cave entrance and there were hundreds of awful little twisted things lining the walls; they stretched toward me and gaped their mouths and made terrible groaning cries, but I swatted them away and swam faster. It got so dark I couldn't see, and then it got light again, and I saw the main cave opening up ahead. Ursula was waiting for me.

"So you came!" was the first thing she said to me, and that took me by surprise right off the bat. "Dear little Urchin," she went on – and I hadn't even introduced myself – and she said, "Take a seat," and pushed me down onto a rock. She grinned wickedly and climbed down the cave wall with her long black tentacles, and sat right in front of me. I didn't say anything; I was so scared I had forgotten to talk.

"I've been expecting you, Urchin! My, you've grown into a handsome young merman, haven't you?" she said with a smile, and then scowled at me. "Didn't anyone teach you any manners, boy? It's rude to gape and stare like that."

I shut my mouth. Then I gasped out, "You were expecting me?"

"Well," she said, smiling, "After Ariel came, it was rather suspenseful, wondering whether or not you'd show up. But you did, and you're here. Very predictable. The question is, how can I help you?"

I remembered why I was there and looked Ursula straight in the eye. "I want you to bring Ariel home!" I shouted.

"But Ariel doesn't want to come home," she said musingly, as if she thought I was entertaining. "She wants to be with her Prince, and I've let her! I've made her happy."

"What about her father, and her sisters? She'll miss them! She'll realize she made a mistake, and then she'll want to come home-"

"Too late for that now, boy," she said, her voice suddenly dark and malicious. "Ariel's signed a contract, and that contract is binding. She can never go home again." She slid away on her tentacles over to one of the walls of the cave, where her shelves of potions were, and started organizing them. "I know it must be hard on you," she said, now sounding mock-sympathetic, "when she meant so very much to you. To know she deserted you like that, without even saying good-bye!"

Ariel hadn't said good-bye to me. She hadn't said anything. I hadn't thought of that before, but I realized Ursula was right.

The Sea Witch continued deftly organizing her potions, sometimes using her tentacles, and didn't even look at me as she kept talking. "Not one word to her dear Urchin! Well, some friend she is. Perhaps you should be glad never to see her again. Be glad she's with her darling Prince and her humans, and good riddance to them."

"But if she doesn't get the kiss," I said, "If she doesn't get the Prince to fall in love with her in three days, she won't even get to stay human. She'll belong to you."

"That is correct," the Witch said. "Oh, but don't feel bad for her. She accepted the terms herself, you know. You yourself would never have been stupid enough to accept such impossible terms."

I would never have got into this mess to begin with. I didn't always understand the things Ariel did, or why she did them. But then Ariel believed in something, and I didn't believe in anything.

"Isn't there anyway to void her contract?" I asked.

"No. The most you can do is hope she's a good flirt, and gets that Prince to kiss her."

I don't know where it came from, but the next moment I was shouting at the Sea Witch, "Give me a contract too!" She paused in her organizing and turned her head to look at me, a skeptical smile on her lips. "Give me a contract," I went on. "Give me legs like Ariel so I can go on land. I have to help her get the Prince to fall in love with her. She can't even talk. She needs my help."

"You would sell yourself to the Sea Witch to help a friend who didn't even say good-bye?" Ursula asked, as if she pitied me for being stupid.

"I can't let her fail, and then belong to you forever," I said. "I'll help her get her Prince. And I'm sure she would have said good-bye if she had remembered it," I added as an afterthought.

"Alright, if you insist," Ursula said, and materialized a scroll of paper and a quill pen out of nowhere, and lay them down on the rock between us. "To tell the truth, this little twist just might make my job easier!" she beamed. "I thought I might have to go up there myself and get in the way of Ariel and the Prince's budding romance, but then here you show up on my doorstep and offer to do it for me! It's perfect." She started writing furiously on the scroll with the quill pen.

"What do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"Oh, nothing – just that I wonder if you will aid or hinder Ariel in her goal."

"Of course I will help her!" I retorted. "She's my best friend!"

"Alright, no need to get so flustered!" she said, still scribbling violently with the pen. "Here's the deal," she explained. "I'll give you three days with legs, the same as Ariel. You have until sunset on the third day. Now listen closely, this is important: when the sun sets on the third day, you have to be touching the ocean to turn back into a merman. If you aren't touching the water at the moment the sun sets, you will have missed your chance, and will be stuck human forever." She paused and grinned up at me. "And I'm sure that's just what you want," she said sarcastically.

"Why is it different for Ariel?" I asked. "Why does she have to get a kiss? That seems a whole lot harder."

"Because your desires and Ariel's desires are not the same, and the rules unfold accordingly for each of you." She continued scribbling on the scroll, not bothering to look at me. "Now, as for price, I can't imagine what you have to give. Ariel's price was her voice – she has a lovely singing voice. But I don't think you have any talents of that sort, nothing worth me spending the effort to take it. An orphan, with no money, no loved ones to ransom up, and not even wearing anything." She squinted her eyes at me. "I don't work for free, you know."

"That's why I brought this," I said, and threw up the sack I had carried with me over my shoulder. It landed on the rock table, spilling open and scattering gold coins and jewels. The people of the sea like shiny objects, and hold this kind of stuff just as valuable as land people do, though I can't see any use for it.

Ursula grinned. "That's more like it. Not very imaginative, but nice and old-fashioned. Where'd you get this?"

"Consider it a loan from my boss," I said.

"Not worried he'll miss it?"

"I'll be gone where he can't reach me. And anyways that's the least of my problems right now."

Ursula admired some of the jewels, letting them sparkle in the light, then scooped them back into the sack and dragged it across the table. She stowed it away in some dark corner of her lair, then took her seat again and shoved the contract and quill across the table to me.

"Payment accepted," she said. "Now you just have to read over your contract, and sign it."

"I can't read," I said.

"Oh," she said, snorting back a giggle. "Well, you'll just have to trust me then."

I looked at the contract, but it was just a big mess of curly lines to me. I ditched school pretty early and never learned to read or write. I had never needed it until now. "Ariel's contract could end with her belonging to you," I said cautiously. "Can mine end that way too?"

Ursula threw back her head and laughed. "My dear boy," she said. "What on earth would I do with you? Ariel is a princess; she's important. I can ransom her for a lot of money or blackmail her father. Of course I want her! But you? The upside of being worth absolutely nothing is you are no interest to a witch like myself."

"So that's it?" I pressed on, making sure. "I get to the ocean on sunset of the third day, and I get my tail back, and I'm free. Absolutely free, right?"

"Yes," she said impatiently. "Unless you don't make it to the ocean, and then you're stuck human forever. Either way, you're not my problem. Now, I do have other customers to be getting to, so sign and be on your way like a good little merboy." She held out the quill and I took it. "Just make an X," she said, pointing to the bottom of the scroll. "Here."

I bit my lip and scratched a giant X on the paper, and as soon as I did I started to feel really weird. I looked up and saw Ursula with the most terrifying smile, her arms outstretched like claws, her black tentacles twirling in spirals around her. She was saying strange things that didn't make any sense to me, and the room became very dark and all the sudden very bright, so bright I had to shut my eyes. Then I cried out because my entire body started to hurt, but especially my tailfin. It felt like every bone in the bottom half of my body was breaking and rearranging itself. But it only lasted a second, and then I had a much bigger problem, because now I couldn't breathe. I was choking on the water and couldn't do anything about it. In the back of my mind I heard Ursula laughing, but then it faded away and I was pummeling away on a gush of water she must have sent. I thought I was going to die.

Then I burst through the surface and into the air, choking and spitting up water. I was lying on my back on the sand, being pushed up by the tide. I just lay there a while, gasping for breath. Everything was still aching. I've never felt worse in my life. I heard seagulls crying overhead, and the sun felt nice and warm, but after a while it started to burn my skin so I sat up on the sand.

I had legs. I used to have a green tail covered with shiny little scales, but now everything was pale skin and covered with little hairs instead. I had never seen a real human before, only paintings and statues of them. But in all the paintings and all the statues they were always wearing a whole lot of clothes, so I could never tell what they really looked like underneath it all. I wasn't wearing any clothes. I had parts I didn't even know humans had.

Everything was different out of the water. I had swum up to the surface before, but never stuck around for very long. The sky was so huge and empty, I felt like I could fall into it and be lost forever. It was terrifying to look at. But then I couldn't fall into it because I was so heavy. Everything feels so much heavier on land; it takes more energy just to move.

The colors were different too. Under the water, everything was shades of blue, even the light. Up here the light was warm and yellow. I was sitting on the beach, and in the distance I saw a city and a tall white castle. I figured it must be the castle where the human Prince lived, where Ariel was. I knew I had to help her, but now that I was here I had no idea how.

It took me a few minutes to figure out how to stand up and start walking; my legs kept shaking and giving way under me. I kept falling until my bottom was sore. I hadn't ever fallen down before; you don't fall down underwater. Falling hurts.

Finally I was walking slowly and carefully up the beach toward the city and the palace. I didn't understand how humans ever got anywhere this way; it was so much harder than swimming, and easier to get hurt. The sand was hot and started burning my feet, and the sun was so bright up here that I could barely keep my eyes open. My legs had barely any muscle on them, and I got tired real fast, and collapsed down on the sand. A few minutes later I looked up and saw a human man walking down the beach toward me. I wasn't sure if he had noticed me yet, so I sat very still and hoped he wouldn't. I had never seen a real human before. He was tall and strong with brown hair and a beard, and dressed in a lot of heavy-looking clothes. I remembered I wasn't wearing any clothes. I wondered if the other humans would think me odd for it.

He was carrying a sort of long stick that Ariel had shown me before; she said it was a fishing pole, and humans used it to catch fish and eat them. The man hoisted up the pole as if to swing it out across the water, but then he noticed me and stopped.

"Hey boy," he called out, looking at me real funny. "What in tarnation are you doing?"

I had always wondered if humans spoke the same as merpeople did, if they spoke at all. Now a real human was actually speaking to me. I didn't know what to say, so I just sat where I was and stared stupidly.

"What happened to your clothes?" he asked, and walked up to me, which is exactly what I didn't want him to do. "My God, did you just wash up on the beach? Were you shipwrecked?"

"Yes," I ventured. "I was shipwrecked."

The man gave me some of the clothes off his back and I had to figure out how to slip them on. Then he helped me to my feet and lead me toward the city, though he had to support me most of the way because I kept stumbling. He said I must have gone through a lot, and be very tired and hungry, and I agreed with whatever he said. He was a kind man, sort of like how I imagine a father to be. He took me to his house, which was on the outskirts of the city, and a human woman and a strange furry animal came out of the door to greet us.

The man introduced the woman as his wife, so I learned that humans get married the same as merpeople do. The furry animal was their pet that they kept, called a dog, so they keep pets like we do too – though we keep different kinds of pets. Their house wasn't even too different than merpeople's houses; they collect all sorts of useless objects just like merpeople do, and keep them forever as if they might come in handy one day.

The man told his wife that he had found me on the beach, washed up from a shipwreck, and she gooed and gawed over me and took me inside. First she took me to a huge bowl-like thing she called a tub, and she filled it up with water and told me to "take a bath." I had no idea what she meant. I guess she saw the confusion in my face, because she said to me, "Never used a tub before? Oh, it's alright, dear. Just undress and get in, and take that bar of soap there and rub it all over you. Once you're nice and clean you just hop out, and dry off with this towel here, and I'll get some of my husband's clothes for you." I started taking my clothes off like she said, and she shot out of the room and shut the door behind me, so I figured humans must not like to see each other without clothes. I sat in the tub and played with the bar of the soap, but it seemed awfully stupid to me, just sitting in a bowl of water like that. But I guess humans like to play around in the water after all, so they're not so different from us as we thought.

While I was in the tub, I heard the man and his wife talking to each other out in the other room. They didn't know I could hear them. "What a strange boy," the woman said. "Do you think he was really shipwrecked?"

"He was sitting alone on the beach, Sarah, stark naked. Where else could he have come from?"

"But how was he the only one to survive? And what happened to his clothes anyways? It all seems strange to me. Joseph, he didn't even know how to take a bath, as if he'd never seen a tub before. Anyone who hasn't seen a tub before certainly can't afford to buy passage on a ship."

"Well where do you think he came from then, Sarah? Do you think he's a little merboy, washed up from the ocean?" I got scared when he said that, but his wife chuckled and said not to tease, so they weren't really on to me.

"Wherever he came from," Sarah went on, "and whether he is lying or not, he will have our warmest welcome here. Joseph, he may very well have no family left, and he may need a home. Joe dear, you know how I so wish for a child."

I stopped listening after that. The man's clothes she had lay out for me were pretty big on me, and really heavy and uncomfortable, and I didn't see how humans could go around all day in this stuff. When I came out wearing them, the woman sat me down on a chair at a table, which was a relief because my legs were aching. Then she busied herself in the kitchen awhile and brought out a bowl full of food for me, and also a little cup full of water. I ate the food because I was starving, and it didn't taste half bad, but I couldn't understand what the cup of water was for – I thought maybe to dump on top of your head to cool down. But the man and woman sat down at the table too, and ate their bowls of food, and then they took their cups of water and held it up to their lips, and just started gulping down the water. It was like eating without chewing, but why you would eat water is beyond me. But then I remembered that Ariel had shown me cups and goblets before, and explained that on land people don't just eat food: they "drink" things too. They have to drink water or else they'll dry out. I took my cup of water and tried to just swallow it like they did, but I choked a little before I got the hang of it. Merpeople don't "drink" things or take baths. You don't need to do either when you live in the water.

"So what's your name, young man?" the man asked after we had finished eating.

"Urchin," I said.

"Well I am Joseph Higgins, and this is my wife Sarah. I'm a sea-faring man, captain of my own ship."

"Urchin, what an usual name," his wife Sarah said. "You must not be from around here."

"No, I'm not," I said carefully. "I've never been to your city before."

"Where were you heading, before your ship went down?" the man asked.

"Well, we were heading here," I said.

"And where are you from?"

"It doesn't matter," I said firmly, and decided it was time to exercise my lying skills. "I was heading here to start a new life. I had no family left where I came from. But the ship went down, and everyone perished except for me." I lowered my head and did my best to look sad. I was pretty good at lying after years of begging for food and working in shady business.

"You poor thing," the woman cried. "Shipwrecked on a foreign shore, alone in the world, without a soul to turn to."

"Well, he can turn to us," the man said. "Urchin, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. If you're here to start a new life, then we can provide it for you. I can teach you the sea-faring trade, you could be my apprentice, and this could be your new home - if you wish."

"Thank you, sir," I said, and half of me considered taking his offer. I imagined what it would be like to live here with these people, in a real home. Though they were humans, they were exactly like how I always imagined parents to be like. They were kind and loving, and they had no children of their own. I had nothing back in the sea, nothing I would miss. But here, I might actually have a family, and people who cared if I lived or died.

But the other half of me remembered why I was here. "Thank you," I went on, "I would love to stay with you, but I'm actually looking for someone, and it's very important to me that I find her."

"Oh? Who is that?" the man Joseph asked.

"There is one other besides me who survived the shipwreck," I lied, thinking quickly as I spoke. "She is our princess, and she was coming here on a diplomatic mission. But she is mute and can't speak, so I'm afraid for her being washed up on a foreign shore all alone. No one will even know she is a princess. I was her personal interpreter and charged with keeping her safe. I have to find her."

"How do you know she survived the wreck?" the woman asked gently.

"I saw her floating on some wreckage," I said, my brain working fast. "I tried to swim to her, but couldn't make it. But I could see she was alive, and I saw her wash up at the palace. But I washed up a long way farther down the beach, and was too weak to go and find her."

"My land!" the man exclaimed. "Don't worry, lad. I'm sure the people at the palace have found her and taken care of her. Though if it's as you say, it's very important that you go to her. If she is mute, she can't explain to them what's happened to her, and she'll have a very hard time of things. They won't even know who she is."

"Then I must go to the palace at once," I said firmly. They agreed, and prepared to see me off. They gave me some boots which I had to slip onto my feet; they rubbed in all the wrong places and made walking twice as painful. They also gave me some shiny coins that they use as money. Merpeople tend to use shiny things as money too; in fact they hold it just as valuable as land people do. I was starting to think people were all the same wherever you go.

The palace was so large that it was visible anywhere in the city, so I could get there easily by myself. Joseph and Sarah Higgins were very kind and wished me good luck, and said if I needed anything at all to come back to their house. They asked me if I could remember where it was, and I said yes. Sarah even kissed me on the forehead, which made me go red all over. I felt I had already learned a whole lot about humans just from them, and if all humans were like them then they weren't a bad lot. I thought I might even miss them. They waved me good-bye from their front door and I set off down the street toward the palace, to find Ariel.

...

I walked up to the front gates of the castle where some guards were stationed, relaxing and chatting lazily and not paying much attention to their job. I had paid enough calls on the undersea palace to know how this sort of thing worked.

"State your name and business," one said, straightening up and looking official.

"Urchin, and I'm here to find someone,"

"Who?"

"A young girl who washed up from a shipwreck. I was told she is here in the palace."

The guards exchanged glances and the other asked, "Is she expecting you?"

"No," I said, "but if you tell her my name, she'll know me, and I'm sure she'll be glad to see me."

The guards assumed a friendly manner after that and said, "Come in," and led me through the arched gateway into the palace. "Prince Eric did find just such a girl on the beach today," the more talkative guard said as we walked through the palace halls. "They assumed she washed up from a shipwreck, though the poor thing can't say a word to tell us what happened, or where she's from. Nobody even knows her name. But she's a pretty little thing, and the Prince has taken quite a fancy to her."

"They're having supper in the dining room at the moment," the other guard added. "We'll announce you to them, but perhaps you should change first into more-" he paused, glancing down at my borrowed sailor's clothes that were too big for me. "More suitable attire," he finished. Then they led me to the men's servant quarters, where they gave me some clothes that fit me better, but were just as uncomfortable. There was a shirt, jacket, trousers, and nicer, cleaner boots. I looked at myself in the mirror, and though I still wasn't used to wearing clothes, I didn't look all that bad. I looked like a normal human boy, a nicely-dressed one. They gave me a comb, but my messy blond hair just wouldn't lay flat.

But now something else was bothering me, and I wasn't sure what to do about it. In the sea, you found a nice private place to do your private business, and it just disappeared into the water. But I didn't think things would work the same on land. Ariel had never explained to me how humans did it; I don't think she knew that sort of thing, though we both had wondered and talked jokingly about how humans do certain things. But now I really had to go.

"Hey," I whispered to the younger guard, a few years older than me. "I have to go," I said awkwardly, "if you know what I mean." I assumed humans must at least have some sort of private place to go. The guard got my meaning, which was a relief, and led me to a little metal pot in the corner of the room, hidden behind a screen.

"There it is," he said, and left me to do my business. I thought, surely that pot can't be for what I think it is, but I took a glance inside the pot, and it was.

Things were definitely different up on land. Or rather, things were really the same; it's just that people went about them differently. When I re-emerged into the room, the guards told me to follow them to the dining room, and they would announce me to the Prince. I followed them down the hallway, up the stairs, and into a much taller, grander hallway lined with the sort of things Ariel and I had found in underwater shipwrecks. There were portraits of humans in the strangest clothing, and statues too. There were some of the slender shiny objects we had seen before, but they were holding up strange white sticks that I hadn't ever seen. And at the very upper tips of the strange white sticks were bright little balls of light, dancing and shimmering like glow-fish, but never escaping the tip of the white stick. I stared at them. They looked like miniature suns; it was as if someone had taken the stars out of the sky and held them captive here on the earth. I remembered that Ariel had shown me something like this in a painting she had found; she had called it fire, and explained to me that it could be born, grow, and die like a living thing. It could eat up and destroy other things if you let it free. Once it got strong, water was the only thing on earth that could kill it. But humans were clever enough or stupid enough to keep it captive and under control, and made it do their bidding. I hadn't taken her very seriously; I didn't see how such a thing could exist. She couldn't even explain to me what it really was – what it was made out of, or where it came from. But now I saw what she had told me was true, and it was the strangest thing I had seen yet.

The guards were walking ahead of me, and I strayed over to the side of the hallway, toward the white sticks with the little balls of fire. Humans must have used magic to keep it captive on these little white sticks. I reached a finger out to touch the flame, and it hurt. It was hotter than anything I'd ever felt. I jerked my finger back on reflex, but a moment later it hurt twice as much. Now I thought humans foolish to mess with such a dangerous thing.

I caught up with the guards, who hadn't noticed what I did, and then we passed some rooms with bustling noises coming from within – the kitchens. Some servants walked out of a door carrying some silver platters of food, and I was so busy still staring at the candles (I learned their name later on) that I bumped right into them. One of the platters clattered to the floor after spilling some brown gunk on my jacket, but I didn't hardly noticed because I noticed a bright red shape scuttling away during the commotion. It was Sebastian, the crab who served as the King's advisor. He had followed Ariel onto land, just like me. He had escaped the silver platter that I had knocked to the floor. He had been about to be served up for dinner! The servants were busy cleaning up and muttering apologies, so they didn't notice Sebastian and I lock eyes and stare at each other in bewilderment. I scooped him up off the floor and put him in my jacket pocket, before anyone could notice. I remembered to apologize back to the servants for bumping into them, and then the guards told me to slip into the washroom across the hall and clean the spilled food off my clothes before we went on to see the Prince.

I dashed into the washroom, which was luckily empty, and scooped Sebastian out of my pocket and placed him on the sink. He gaped at me and I didn't meet his eye; I had never really met his approval, and I got the feeling he wasn't happy to see me here.

"Urchin!" he shouted at last. "Young man, what are you doing here?"

"The same thing you are," I retorted. "I followed Ariel. I came to help her."

"You, help?" he demanded, in his thick accent. "Why, you get into almost as much trouble as she does! The two of you combined could cause a catastrophe! I'm up to my neck as it is trying to help Ariel, without keeping an eye on you as well!"

I didn't respond well to adult authority; I wasn't used to it. "I'm her friend!" I shouted angrily. "I have as much right to be here for her as anyone else does! Even more of a right! I won't let any harm come to her."

"How did you get here?" he asked, less patronizing now. "Did you make a deal with the Sea Witch too?"

"Yes," I said. "But I got an easier deal, since I'm not much value to her. I just paid with money."

"And do you have to get a kiss too?" he cried in frustration.

"What? No!" I said, turning red. "All I have to do is be back in the water on sunset of the third day, and then I'll turn back. Ursula doesn't want me; I'm no use to her. So you see? It's no big deal. I'm just going to help Ariel get her stupid Prince to fall in love with her, and then I'm out of here in three days."

"Oh this is a disaster!" he cried in despair. "It was bad enough having one of you decide to be human! But whatever crazy idea one of you schemes up, the other always follows!"

"I'm not going to stay human," I retorted. "I don't want to be stuck up on land forever; I'm not as crazy as Ariel." I was scrubbing the food stains off my clothes. "Everything will work out fine. Besides, it looks like you've got into more trouble than I have. You were about to served up for dinner. Speaking of which, I need to go join them at dinner. Stay in my pocket, and don't make any noise."

Before he could protest I picked him up and slid him into my coat pocket, then walked back into the hallway where the two guards were waiting to escort me. They led me farther down the hall and stopped in front of a massive wooden door and said it was the dining room. The Prince and the girl were dining inside, and they would step in and announce me. I could enter only if the Prince said I could. The older guard opened the door and took a step in, and I could make out beyond him a long dining table with three figures sitting. One was skinny, old, and gray; one was young and strong and raven-haired, and I knew he was the Prince. He looked like the statue I had seen, but twice as handsome in the flesh. A moment ago I had felt pretty good in my nice new clothes, but now I felt stupid compared to him. The third figure was facing away, but I recognized the long tangled mess of vibrant red hair. It was Ariel; I had found her.

"Your Highness Prince Eric," the guard announced loudly. "A visitor by the name of-" He paused and swiveled his head back to me. "What did you say your name was?" he whispered.

"Urchin."

"A visitor by the name of Urchin," he continued regally. "A self-professed friend of the young lady."

Ariel snapped to attention, then shot up to her feet, toppling her chair backward. She turned to face the door and our eyes met. I gave a mischievous grin, the kind I used to do back in our days of adventuring and getting into trouble, as if to say this was just like old times. But she just stared at me with her mouth hanging open. Then she broke into a wide grin, picked up the skirt of her huge pink gown, and ran across the room. She ran straight to me and threw her arms around my neck. I hugged her back, her hair flying in my face, and I was relieved to know I had done something right in following her after all.

"A very good friend, I can see," the Prince said with a laugh. "Please, come in, Urchin. Sit down." He gestured to the empty seat next to him, and Ariel and I made our way back to the table, still smiling. She was happy to see me. I sat on Prince Eric's right-hand side, across from Ariel.

"Urchin – I haven't ever heard of that name before," the Prince said curiously.

"I'm not from around here," I replied.

The Prince introduced the skinny gray man as his butler, Grimsby.

"How do you do," he said flatly, looking at me skeptically. "You are a friend of the young lady's?" he asked. "Our shipwrecked mystery girl?"

"Yes," I answered. "We are childhood friends."

"Then you can tell us about her," Prince Eric said excitedly. "Where the two of you are from, and so on. I'm afraid we don't even know her name!"

Ariel glanced at me nervously, but I knew what I was doing. "Then it is my sincere pleasure," I said grandly, "to introduce to you the _Princess_ Ariel!"

"Ariel?" Eric repeated.

"Princess?" Grimsby demanded.

"Yes," I went on. "She is the daughter of his royal majesty our king. Unfortunately I can't tell you of what country, because the princess is in danger and has been forced into hiding. You understand I can't tell you where we are from, because we have enemies everywhere, and it is my duty to protect her. That's why we were voyaging on a ship: to get out of our turmoiled country, and get the princess to safety. But the ship went down in the storm, and tragically we are the only two who survived," I finished dramatically, and Ariel was looking at me as if she was impressed.

"Heavens!" Grimsby exclaimed.

Prince Eric was staring at us in awe, but quickly gathered himself and said, "I'm so sorry for your troubles, but you are both welcome to stay here in the palace as long as you like. Please make yourselves at home." He was sincere in everything he said, and I couldn't help but like him. He was maybe a year or two older than me, but he was tall and strong and compared to him I looked a skinny little kid. But the real difference I thought was that I can't imagine him ever lying to anyone, while I've been telling lies all my life.

Eric and Grimsby started discussing something, and Ariel caught my eye and pointed at a shiny little metal stick with three prongs lying on the table, like a miniature trident. She picked it up and started combing her hair with it, a bright smile on her face. I thought it was lucky that at least one of us knew so much about the human world, because I would have never been able to figure out what to do with that thing. But then I noticed the Prince staring at her in confusion, and Ariel noticed too. She stopped abruptly and bashfully put the little stick back in its place. Then, to be funny, and make Ariel not feel so embarrassed, I took the little metal stick in front of me and said, "No no, it's like this!" and stuck the thing right in my blond messy hair, so that it stood right up. I beamed, and Ariel started laughing, though without making a sound, and the Prince chuckled too.

"You two must have known each other a long time," he said brightly.

"I suppose we must have," I said. Then I remembered to take the metal stick thing out of my hair and lay it back on the table. And I remembered why exactly I was here. I had to make sure Ariel got the Prince to fall in love with her, so she got kissed before her three days were up. So I steered the conversation to focus on Ariel and the Prince, not me. "But how did you two meet?" I asked.

"I found her on the beach," Eric said shyly. "I figured she must be shipwrecked, but I had no idea where she had come from, or who she was." He looked at Ariel as he spoke. "I might have never known, if you hadn't come along, Urchin."

"Well it's a good thing I did come, so I can tell you just who she is," I said. "She's the kindest, most generous, noblest, bravest person I've ever met," I went on. I thought I was just trying to flatter her in front of the Prince, but really I meant every word I said. "But I'm sure you would have discovered that yourself whether I showed up or not."

Ariel was blushing, and the Prince was looking at her. "Well I'd like very much to get to know you better, Princess Ariel," he said.

I figured I had done well so far, but I needed to get out of here and give them some time alone. But before I could figure out an escape, dinner was served. I still had no idea what the metal stick things were for, and was about to start tearing at the food with my bare hands, but I saw the Prince and Grimsby picking at it daintily with their metal sticks. I copied them carefully, and saw Ariel was doing the same. We exchanged grins.

"I don't mean to pry," Grimsby said as we ate, "but has the Princess always been, um," he struggled awkwardly, "mute?"

I wasn't sure how to answer that, and for a moment failed at words and looked at Ariel. She gave a little nod, so I answered, "Yes, she has." Eric and Grimsby nodded solemnly. "But it doesn't mean she's lacking anything," I added firmly.

"It must be hard," Eric said to Ariel, "not being able to communicate freely as other people do. I imagine it must get frustrating, maybe even lonely." He was trying to be sympathetic, but I could see he was just making Ariel feel bad. She hung her head and stared down at her lap.

"But nobody is really able to communicate freely with other people," I spoke up. "We lie. We keep secrets. Maybe because we're too shy or ashamed or embarrassed. Mostly we're afraid of what other people will think of us if we tell them the truth." The others were looking at me in surprise. "So you see," I finished lamely. "We're all mute in a way."

"You have very strong and unusual opinions for such a young man," Grimsby said, raising an eyebrow. "How old are you, Urchin?"

The truth was that I didn't know how old I was. I had never had any family to celebrate my birthdays, or even tell me when my birthday was. When I met Ariel, she and I agreed we were about the same age. Ariel was sixteen now. But I decided right then and there to up my age a year or two. "I'll be eighteen soon," I lied, and I sounded proud as I did it. Maybe it wasn't a lie; I had no way of ever knowing.

"I'm eighteen," Eric said brightly, as if to say that gave us something in common.

"Yes, which means it's high time you thought about choosing a bride," Grimsby put in.

"Oh Grimsby, don't pressure me about it," he pleaded. "I'll choose when I'm ready, and I'll know she's the right one."

"Don't stress over it," I agreed. "You never know; she could be right in front of you, and you never even realized." I glanced up smugly at Ariel as I said it, and she gave me a skeptical smile as if to say, "Don't overdo it." But I could tell she was pleased, and grateful I was there.

Dinner went on uneventfully and Eric was increasingly kind to Ariel. He even decided to take her on a tour of the kingdom the very next day. Things were going just swimmingly; he might even kiss her tomorrow. So I expected Ariel to be happy. But later that night, when I visited her in her room, she wasn't happy at all. The Prince had shown both of us to our own individual private suites, which were nicer than anything I had ever lived in before. I had taken Sebastian out of my pocket as soon as we were alone and he had scuttled off somewhere and told me to stay put, but I wandered out of my room to check on Ariel. I knocked on her door and told her it was me, but she didn't answer. I went in anyways. She was sitting on her bed and crying, and when she saw me, she tried to hide her face.

"Ariel, what's wrong?" I asked. "Everything will be fine, really! The Prince really likes you! I can tell. And he's taking you on a tour of the kingdom tomorrow!" I thought that would cheer her up, but it didn't. She just shook her head. I noticed there were little streams of water trickling down her cheeks, which I didn't understand. Why was her face wet? Then I saw the water was coming from her eyes. People cry under the sea just as often as they do on land, but our eyes don't water up. Or if they do, we can't tell, because there's water everywhere.

I walked over to her and wiped the strange water off her face. "Do you miss your family?" I asked. She nodded. She jumped off the bed and grabbed a piece of paper and a pen from the desk, and started scribbling. She scribbled for a good few minutes, and then held out the piece of paper to me. I took it in my hands, but I couldn't make any sense of it. "I can't read," I said with a shrug. She looked awfully disappointed. I wished now more than ever I knew how to read.

She plopped back down on the bed, looking frustrated and upset. I guessed she was growing tired of not being able to talk. To tell the truth, I missed her talking. I wanted to hear her voice again, to hear her tell me things about humans and their world, to explain to me what everything was and why it was special. But I couldn't tell her that. I didn't think she would ever be able to talk again. I sat down on the bed next to her and said firmly, "There's nothing wrong with you. Just because you can't talk doesn't mean you're broken, or you need to be fixed. They've got it all wrong. You talk just as much as other people, just in a different way." She stared at me with her watery blue eyes. "You talk with your eyes, and your smile," I went on. "They mean more than any words could, because half the words you ever hear are lies. You never lie. You smile when you're happy and cry when you're sad. Other people might say, 'I don't think that's the best idea' or 'Maybe tomorrow,' but you shake your head and say 'No,' because that's what you mean. Other people might say 'How funny' or 'I like that' but you smile and throw your head back and laugh, because that's what you mean. Other people might say 'Nice to see you again' or 'I missed you,' but you run right up to them and throw your arms around them and are genuinely happy to see them, because that is what all those words really mean. So you see, the way you talk is more real than any words could say."

She had stopped crying and was staring at me with a strange smile, but I had just realized all the things I had said and felt embarrassed. I guess that, being the only one of us who could speak, I had felt real easy about talking, and now I had gone and said too much. But Ariel hugged me and gave me a little pluck of a kiss on the cheek, and then I was glad I had said it. I had made it all up on the spot, but I guess I was right.

I wished her good night and left the room, shutting the door gently behind me. I was happy for Ariel. Though she couldn't speak anymore, she had got what she always wanted: to be part of a new and wonderful world, a world she could explore and have adventures in, where she would be free. She would be happier here than she was under the sea. I was sure the Prince would fall for her; I had seen the way he looked at her at dinner. He would confess his love and kiss her in no time at all. I hoped Ariel would invite me to her wedding. But no, I would be long gone and back in the ocean by the time the wedding happened. Unless things happened really quickly, and then I might get to see it before the third day was up. Just maybe. But as I walked back to my room, thinking about everything that had happened today, a thought occurred to me. I knew that even if they got married and lived happily ever after for the rest of their lives, the Prince would never know Ariel as well as I did.

...

I wandered outside the palace, unable to sleep. I walked along the shoreline and looked up at the palace to see a figure in the window, silhouetted in the warm yellow light. It was Ariel. She was wearing a nightgown, and brushing her hair before she went to bed. I just watched her, and felt that strange feeling again. I was beginning to wonder if I had really come here to help her win the Prince's love. Or maybe I had really come here to do something else. I remembered what the Sea Witch had said, about sending me to get in the way of Eric and Ariel. I was starting to think she was right.

I was watching Ariel through the window still, but she didn't see me. "I don't know when," I said under my breath. "I don't know how. But I know something's starting right now." I watched Ariel blow out the candle, and the lights went out, so I could no longer see her. "Ariel, please," I whispered to the dark. "Stay part of the seas."

Be part of my world_._


	3. The Second Day

THE SECOND DAY

The next morning the Prince took Ariel on a tour of his kingdom, and I was left to loaf around the palace wondering how things were going. I found Sebastian in Ariel's room, and we sat around a while, not having much to talk about. I found the long note Ariel had written to me last night, laying on the desk, but I was still unable to read it. I stared at the squiggles and swirls and finally turned to Sebastian.

"Sebastian," I said. "Ariel wrote this to me last night, but I can't read it. Will you read it to me?"

He nodded and I plopped the paper down in front of him. He scuttled on top of it and read it aloud, hesitating at some parts, but I finally coaxed it all out of him. It said: "_Urchin, what are you doing here? Did you come here just to find me? I'm so sorry about everything. I left my father and sisters without giving any explanation or even saying good-bye. I did the same to you. It was awful of me. I'm so sorry. Now you are here too and I have put you into danger as well because of my actions. I was rash and stupid to run away. I have hurt everyone I love and I would undo it all if I could, but I can't. Please forgive me_." There were teardrops all over the paper where she had been crying last night. After Sebastian read it to me, we sat in silence for a long time. I wished we hadn't read it.

"So she does regret running away," I said at last.

"Well of course," Sebastian answered. "She misses her home and her family, just like every child that runs away from home. But other children can turn around and go home, and Ariel can't."

"But she would go back to the sea, if she could," I said, more to myself than to Sebastian. "If there was a way, she would undo this all and come home."

"What difference does it make now?" the crab answered sadly. "If she gets the kiss, she stays human forever, and if she doesn't, she belongs to the Sea Witch. Either way, she can never come home again."

I felt awful the rest of the day, waiting for Ariel and the Prince to return. I was anxious to know how it had gone, and whether they had kissed yet. I explored the castle but got in the way of the servants a lot, so then I wandered outside down the beach. Dark storm clouds had gathered over the sea and were rumbling ominously, turning the day to night. I was alone on the beach, the wind whipping at my hair and clothes. I stood in the surf for a long time, feeling the cool friendly water on my feet. On land I felt so heavy and tired and dried-out all the time. The humans called the dried-out feeling thirst, and I saw why they ate water out of cups now. I had to do it too. It felt cool and delicious to drink water, but at the same time made me miss the sea.

After a while I thought I saw tiny figures on the horizon, and as they approached I saw they were Ariel's six sisters swimming toward me. Every one of them had cut off their long hair, and it fell in jagged locks around their faces.

"Urchin," one of them called out to me. It was the eldest, Attina. "Urchin, it is you, isn't it? Where is our sister, Ariel? We were told she is staying in the human Prince's palace. We've waited out here all day, waiting for her to come out onto the beach and see us, but we haven't seen her at all." She sounded mournful and desperate, and the faces of all the sisters said the same. Their eyes were red and bleary, as if they'd been crying.

"The Prince is taking her on a tour of his kingdom," I answered, calling out from the shoreline. "You should be happy for her; he is already falling in love with her."

"But does she love him more than she loves us?" Attina asked sincerely. I couldn't answer; I didn't know. They had come into the shallow water, as close as to me as they could, and I waded out to meet them.

"She's made a deal with the Sea Witch," I told them. "She regrets it – she told me so. She says she is sorry for hurting all of her loved ones, including you. She says she would undo it all if she could. But the thing is, she can't. Her contract is binding. Either she will get the Prince to kiss her, and live as human forever, or she won't get the kiss, and then she will belong to Ursula."

"There is another way," Attina said resolutely. Her sisters watched in solemn silence as she produced something from her satchel: a long thin dagger, with a twisted silver handle. The thunderclouds were bursting overhead, and the sea grew agitated, the waves growing taller and sweeping against us. "My sisters and I too have made a deal with the Sea Witch," Attina continued. "We gave her our long hair, which we were all far too vain of, and in exchange she gave us this dagger. Urchin, we came to give it to Ariel, but instead we found you. Now we must entrust this task to you." She held out the dagger, and I took it carefully, staring at her in confusion. I didn't understand.

"You must plunge this dagger into the heart of the Prince," Attina said darkly, "and when you smear his red blood onto both yours and Ariel's feet, you will both get your tailfins back, and can return to the sea. You can both come home, and your contracts with the Witch will be broken."

I stared at the dagger in my hands. It was a way for Ariel to come home. Things could go back to normal, and we would forget any of this had ever happened. But could I kill the Prince? I had committed crimes before, but only trifling things that had never really hurt anyone. I wasn't sure if I could kill someone. But then I remembered how Ariel had said she regretted her actions, and would undo them and go home to the sea if she could. I could help her do that. And then I thought that maybe I could kill someone, if it was for her.

"We miss our sister," Attina continued miserably. "Our father is grief-stricken; look how he makes the sea and the sky grieve with him. We don't understand why she left us. We love her. We know she loves us too. If we hurt her in some way, we never meant to. If we could have her back again, we would make it up to her – for whatever it is we did." She paused on the verge of weeping. "Will you do this task for us?" she asked, her eyes red and beseeching. "Will you bring our sister home?"

"I will," I answered, and I stowed the dagger away into my coat pocket.

"You followed Ariel onto land," the youngest, Andrina, mused aloud. She was staring at me, and I turned to look at her. "You made a deal with the Witch not because you wanted to, but just to follow her and find her and help her if she needed it. You must really love her."

I didn't know how to reply. I just stood and turned red.

"You would even help her gain the love of another man, if that's what she wants. You would help her do it even though it must hurt you so badly, and tear holes in your heart to see them together. You would suffer just to make her happy. That is true love," she finished, and fell silent. The sisters all stared at me, not as if they were expecting an answer, but as if they were really looking at me for the first time.

Attina put her hand on my shoulder and said, "You have our trust and our friendship, Urchin. You carry our sister's fate now. It is an awful burden to bear, but I see now it is rightfully yours and yours alone to bear, and we have faith in you."

Then the sisters bid me farewell, and disappeared into the dark surging waves, leaving me standing alone in the surf, and never saying a word. I stood there for a long time, watching the storm brew over me, and finally I turned back to the palace, feeling the weight of the dagger in my pocket.

...

Ariel and the Prince didn't return until late that night, and they entered the palace smiling and laughing, with Ariel on Eric's arm. I saw through the window as he picked her up and twirled her around in the air, both laughing, and Ariel looked the happiest I had seen her since I couldn't remember when.

Eric said they had had a very good time, and after that everyone retired to their rooms. I went to Ariel's room to find her, and I walked in on her brushing her long beautiful hair in front of her vanity mirror, smiling the biggest loveliest smile and practically glowing. She was in love; it was obvious.

She spotted me in the mirror and turned to greet me, happy to see me. I asked her if the Prince had kissed her yet, and she stopped smiling and shook her head "no." But then she scribbled something on a piece of paper, and Sebastian was sitting on her desk so he read it aloud for me. "Almost," the paper said.

Everyone went to bed except me. That is, I did go to bed, but not with the intention of sleeping. I lay awake for hours, waiting for the palace to go completely still and quiet. Finally I rose as quietly as I could and fished out the Witch's dagger from the pocket of my coat. I crept through the palace halls on the tips of my toes, which was a little tricky because I had never done it before. I was headed for the Prince's room. He didn't keep any guards outside his room; he thought it unnecessary because there were guards posted around the palace and he naturally trusted everyone already inside. He was mistaken.

On the way to his room I stopped at Ariel's, which was in the ladies' quarters. I stepped in just long enough to see her lying peacefully asleep, a sweet smile on her face. I wondered if she was dreaming about him. It made me angry to think about for some reason.

I continued down the halls and at last crept into the Prince's room, unseen and unstopped by anyone. He was lying asleep just as peacefully as Ariel. I stepped up to his bed and gripped the dagger in my hand. I was gripping it so tightly that my fingers hurt and my knuckles were white. I wrapped both my hands around the handle and lifted it into the air, poising it straight above his heart. My hands were trembling now, and I was sweating. The sweat dripped down my forehead and into my eyes, making them sting. That never happened in the sea; you didn't sweat down there. You were just always wet. But up here you were always making your own water, whether you were hot or in a hurry and it started dripping down you all over the place out or nowhere, or whether you were crying and it started coming out of your eyes. It was strange and bothersome. Now my hands were all wet, making the dagger slip between my palms. But I gripped it even tighter and prepared all my muscles to plunge the thing down into his chest. I could do it. I would do it. I would do it for Ariel, so that she could go home to her father and her sisters. No, that wasn't it at all, I realized. I would do it so that she could come home to _me_.

Then I stopped; I stepped back from the Prince and lowered the dagger. I stared at the peacefully slumbering Prince, wondering in bewilderment who I was really doing this for. For Ariel's father and sisters? No. I liked them and I sympathized with them, but they were not my family. For Ariel herself then, certainly. So she could go back to her home and her family, like she had said she wanted to. She had said herself that if she could undo what she had done, she would. I had a way to do just that, and that was what I was doing.

But no, I knew that wasn't true. I was doing this for myself alone – for my own selfishness and jealousy. I didn't want Ariel to leave my world forever. I couldn't imagine a world without her in it: without her spending time with me and cheering me up when I was down, without being able to stop in and see her when I needed her, or when she needed me. I wanted her to be part of my world, but the truth was, she wanted to be part of someone else's. I knew she loved her father and sisters, and I knew I was a dear friend to her, but I also knew she was in love with the Prince, and I hadn't seen her so happy in years as when she was with him. Ariel would be happier in this world than she had ever been under the sea, and if her father and sisters truly loved her they would accept this fact and be happy for her. And if I truly loved her, I would do the same.

I backed away from the Prince, ashamed of myself. I had been about to kill the person that Ariel cared most for in the world, more than she would ever care for me. After all, she had left me without saying good-bye, and she had left me for him.

I put the dagger back into my pocket and left the Prince to continue his innocent slumber. I walked through the dark halls back to my room, tossing the dagger away onto the floor, and collapsing onto the bed. My face felt wet and I wiped the water away, then realized it was coming from my eyes. It was warm and salty and it kept coming. I hated it, but it wouldn't stop. It went on for hours until I finally fell asleep. I felt miserable. My last conscious thought was, now I really knew what it felt like to be human, and it felt rotten.


	4. The Third Day

THE THIRD DAY

The next morning I walked downstairs to find the entire palace in an uproar: people were hurrying in all directions, pushing trolleys of food and decorations and shouting orders at one another. I recognized a young servant that had helped me the other day. He was checking things off a list and issuing orders, and I walked up to him and asked him what was going on.

"Why, you haven't heard yet?" he said with a grin. "The Prince is getting married! He just announced it this morning! Getting married this very day, before the sun sets!"

I stared in surprise. "We're in a hurry to prepare the wedding," the servant went on. "It will be in a few hours, so if you'll excuse me I need to see how the cake is doing."

He hurried off after some other bustling people, and left me alone and bewildered. But then I smiled, because I knew Ariel had done it. She had won the Prince's love, and they were getting married this very day. Once they kissed at the wedding, she would be safe from the Sea Witch and stay human forever. She would get the life she always wanted.

I ran up the stairs to her room, but she wasn't there. Then I went back to my room, and found she had come looking for me. She was carrying Sebastian in her hand, and smiled at me.

"Ariel, you did it!" I beamed. "Congratulations!"

She looked confused, and then I wondered if she actually didn't know yet. "Don't you know?" I asked, as confused as she was. "Didn't he even ask you?"

Her face said she had no idea what I was talking about, and I exclaimed, "The Prince has announced he's getting married! Today, before sunset! Ariel, he's going to marry you today!"

For a brief instant she didn't look happy at all, but slightly dismayed and maybe even…sad? But it was only an instant, and I wasn't even sure I saw it. Part of me wondered about this, but I let it go as she broke into a smile, stepped up to me and hugged me. She looked happy, but for some reason, not quite as happy as I expected her to be.

We were standing in my room, and Sebastian was sitting on the bed. "Is it true?" he demanded of me. "Are you sure of it, Urchin?"

"Yes! The whole palace is being turned upside down, trying to get the wedding together! Just go downstairs and see!"

"You've done it, child!" Sebastian said happily to Ariel, looking very much relieved. "He'll kiss you today at the wedding, and then you'll be married and safe from the Sea Witch! Things have turned out alright after all."

But as he was saying this, Ariel had spotted something on the floor of my room, and was staring at it. I realized what it was: the dagger, and I cringed as she stooped to pick it up. I had forgotten to hide it; it was exactly where I had thrown it last night. She held it up and looked at me beseechingly as if to ask what it was.

I didn't want to tell her. I was about to make up a lie, but for once in my life couldn't think up of one to tell. Then I figured she had the right to know. "Your sisters gave that dagger to me," I explained miserably. "They miss you and want you to come home, so they made a deal with the Sea Witch. They all cut off their hair and gave it to her, and in exchange the Witch gave them that dagger. They told me if I killed the Prince with it, and smeared his blood on your feet, you would be a mermaid again, and could go home to your family and stay with them forever."

Ariel was staring wide-eyed in horror, but I couldn't stop now. "I couldn't do it," I said, not able to meet her eyes. "Your sisters asked me to do it, but I couldn't. I couldn't kill the one you love, not even if it means," I hesitated, but finished quietly, "even if it means that none of us will ever see you again."

Ariel's face was pale and aghast as she stared at the dagger a long time. She looked heartbroken, but it was impossible for me to know just what she was thinking. Finally I took the dagger gently from her hands, stowed it away in a drawer where she couldn't see it, and held her hands in mine.

"It's alright," I said. "Everything has turned out just the way we wanted it. You'll marry the Prince and live happily ever after. I'll go back and tell your father and your sisters that you'll be happy here, and that they should be happy for you. I'll give them your love. Do you want me to do that?" She nodded, but her eyes were leaking water again. She threw her arms around my neck, and had to stand on tip-toe to do it, because I had grown taller. She planted a kiss on my cheek and smiled at me. I smiled too, and I wiped away the troublesome water that kept coursing down her face. "You'll be fine," I said. "But I can't stay for the wedding. I have to get back to the ocean before the sun sets. My contract with Ursula says I have to be standing in the water at sunset in order to turn back. I'm sorry I can't stay and see you get married."

She nodded in understanding, but then her face set into determination. She went over to the desk in my room which I had no use for, pulled out a piece of paper and pen and once again startled scribbling. She wrote until the entire page was full, and then rolled up the paper and slid it gently into my hand. "Ariel, I can't read it," I reminded her. She wrapped my hands around the paper and patted them. "I'll take it home with me," I said, understanding what she wanted me to do. She nodded.

Just then a servant lady poked her head in the door, and called out to Ariel. We backed away from each other quickly and tried to look normal. "Princess Ariel," she said happily. "I've been looking for you! When you get a chance, will you come downstairs? We need to get a gown fitted for you!"

Then she disappeared again, and left me standing alone with Ariel. "Go on," I said to her with a smile. "Go get ready for your wedding." She took my hands again and smiled up at me – but there was something in that smile like regret. She released my hands slowly and walked out of the room. I took the piece of paper she had given me and stowed it securely in my pocket. I wondered what it said, but I wouldn't have anyone read it to me until I returned home. I understood that's what Ariel wanted. Then again, maybe I would never read it at all. Maybe it would be better to forget her.

I had forgotten Sebastian was there. He was sitting calmly on the bed, watching me. "You know, child," he said gently. "Ariel is very fond of you. She doesn't want to see you leave."

"I'm not going to stay on land and be human forever," I said. "Not while she's busy being married and then being a queen, maybe even a mother. This is her world now, and there's no place for me in it."

"I read Ariel's contract with the Sea Witch, you know," he said. "The wording of these things is very important. It said that Ariel has to get the kiss of true love, to stay human forever, and not belong to the Sea Witch."

"And that's what she's doing," I said, wondering why he was telling me things I already knew. "She's getting married to the Prince and he'll kiss her at the wedding."

"It didn't say," he said slowly, "that the kiss of true love must come from the Prince."

I stared at him. "What are you trying to say?" I demanded, and it came out more frustrated and angry than I meant for it to.

"I've seen what you've done for her," he persisted, not put off my anger. "You left your home and followed her on land, just to make sure she was alright. You helped her win the love of another, though I could see in your eyes that it killed you. You would have killed a man for her. And more than that, you decided _not_ to kill him, and to let her go, which was by far the hardest thing to do. And you did all this so that she could be happy. If that is not true love," he said at last, "then I have lived all my years and have never seen love at all."

I felt sick for some reason. I fell down on the edge of the bed, leaning over my knees and staring down at the floor. I couldn't meet Sebastian's eyes. I shook my head violently and said, "Ariel is a princess. Eric is a prince. They were meant to be together; that's just how these things work. It doesn't matter how much I love her or what I would do for her, even if no one else in the world could match my love. I'm a nobody. I'm not a prince; I'm a pauper. I've got no money and no family and no home. I'm just Urchin. And I don't stand a chance with a princess. You don't think I've ever thought about it? What do you think her father would say, if I told him I loved her? If I asked his permission to marry her? He would laugh at me; that's what he'd do. It's wrong of me even to think about her that way."

"If her father knew half the things you have done for her," Sebastian answered. "He would know you are the worthiest young man that could ever ask his daughter's hand."

"And then what?" I said, laughing bitterly. "Say I married her. Can you imagine them making me a prince? And after that, would they crown me a king? I couldn't run a country. It's ridiculous to think about."

"Ariel is youngest in line for the throne," he objected. "You don't have to worry about ever becoming king. And besides," he went on, "whatever happens, and however this ends, Ariel can never return to the sea. If she gets the kiss, she'll be human forever, regardless of who gives her the kiss."

"Then it will be better for her to be married to a human prince," I said. "Instead of a nobody."

"Maybe that should be for Ariel to decide," Sebastian said sternly, but I had already flung myself up from the bed and was stomping away angrily.

"I'm leaving now," I said, turning back to him. "There's no need for me here anymore. I can't attend the wedding because I have to be back in the sea at sunset. Otherwise I'll be stuck up here forever."

"Are you going to say good-bye to Ariel?"

"No," I said quietly. "I wouldn't know what to say. Besides, I'm sure she's busy getting ready for the wedding. Will you come with me, or are you staying here with her?"

"I'll stay here long enough to see the Prince kiss her," he said. "Then I'm going home, to the sea, where things make more sense. Not much more, but a little."

"Then tell her that I said good-bye," I said. "And congratulations on getting married. I know she'll make a wonderful queen. And tell her that," I finished lamely, "she was the best friend I ever had."

"I'll tell her if you want me to," he said glumly. "But I wish you would tell her yourself."

"I've interfered up here long enough," I said. "Good-bye, Sebastian. I guess I'll see you around, after all this is over."

"Good-bye, Urchin," he said sadly, as I closed the door behind me. Then he shouted at me just as I closed the door, "But why don't you use your head for once and think things over!" I walked down the halls, down the stairs, and out of the palace. People were bustling in all directions, preparing food and decorations, and fitting bridesmaids in their gowns. The wedding was to take place on a ship, the largest and stateliest the kingdom had to offer. It was anchored at the palace docks, and people were scurrying about it, cleaning and loading goods and putting things in place. The ship would set sail in a few hours, with the wedding party aboard. It wouldn't be back until tomorrow morning. I could have attended the wedding if I had really wanted to. I could have gone on board, watched the wedding, and simply jumped into the sea right before sunset. There was nothing to stop me. But I didn't want to see the wedding.

I guess when we were younger I had always supposed Ariel would have to marry some foreign prince one day, and live in his palace and be queen of some other country I would never see. I hadn't thought too much about it because it had always seemed too far away to worry about. But now it was here. She was marrying the human prince, which was a bit of a surprise, but not much. Fate had played out like it was supposed to: princesses fell in love with princes, and lived happily ever after. I was in a story, Ariel's story, but I wasn't a main character. Poor boys with no future didn't a get a main role to play.

I strayed away from the docks, the ship, and the palace, and wandered down the beach to a point where I could no longer hear the bustling of the wedding preparations. I sat on the shoreline for a long time, staring at the sea, which still looked dark and stormy in the distance.

After a few hours a man came strolling up the beach with his fishing pole, and he recognized me and called out to me. It was none other than Joseph Higgins, the man who had found me on the beach when I first washed up. He smiled to see me, and I couldn't help but feel happy to run across him again.

"Urchin!" he said, hurrying up to me. "How are you? Have you been staying at the palace? Did you find your friend?"

"I've been good, thank you, and yes I have, and yes I did. She's very happy here."

"What are you doing here all by yourself? Here I find you again exactly where I found you three days ago." He grinned. "My wife thinks you're a little merboy who washed up from the underwater kingdom," he said with a chuckle.

I smiled. "Maybe I am."

"But say, why aren't you attending the Prince's wedding? The ship is setting sail in a few minutes. A young lad like yourself shouldn't miss it; you'll have fun."

"Oh, I don't think I want to go," I said with a shrug. "Why aren't you going?"

"Ha, I've had enough of weddings after my own," he said cheerily. Then he looked at me with concern. "Do you need a place to stay, Urchin? Do you need anything at all? Don't be afraid to ask; my wife and I are quite fond of you."

"I'm fond of you too," I said. "Both of you. You're some of the kindest people I've ever met, and I know now humans aren't all that bad." He looked at me curiously, but I kept going. "Thank you for everything you've done, but I don't think I'll be staying around much longer. Wait, there is one more thing you can do for me." I pulled out Ariel's rolled-up letter from my jacket pocket, and held it out to him. "My friend wrote this to me, but I can't read it," I explained. "It might be very important, what she's written. I don't know. It might decide what I do with the rest of my life." He looked at the paper with raised eyebrows, taking it gently in his hands and unrolling it. "Can you please read it to me?" I asked.

"I will," he said, "though I'm not the best at letters, I'll do my best. I hope what it says is good to you, Urchin." Then he read the letter aloud. It said:

"_To my dearest Urchin, You have done so much for me and I will never be able to thank you. You have done more for me than I deserve. I should have never run away from home. I have brought heartache and misery on my father and sisters, and now I realize, on you as well. _

"_Please tell my family that I love them, and I never meant to hurt them. I would return to them and embrace them and never hurt them again, if only I could. And I would do the same to you. _

"_I ran away from home looking for something, though I didn't know what. I was always dreaming of something else out there, but now that I am here, I realize that everything I wanted I already had. It had been right there in front of me, the entire time, and I was too young and silly to realize it. If only I still had my voice to speak, I would tell you how much you mean to me. But by the time you read this it will be too late. Come sunset I will belong to the Sea Witch. I hope that I have not caused you so much pain that you will not remember me fondly. It's only now, after all this time, and after everything I've put us through, that I realize – I realize too late – that I love you. _

_With all the love in my heart, _

_Ariel."_

He finished reading and fell solemnly silent, and I stood there, not knowing what to say. She loved me? Surely she couldn't really, or she wouldn't be getting married to the Prince right now. And what did she mean that she would belong to the Sea Witch? Once the Prince kissed her, she wouldn't have to worry about the Sea Witch anymore. Or had I missed something? I felt more confused than ever.

"She writes as if she'll never see you again," the man said to me, looking at the letter in his hand, "as if it's too late."

"But it's not too late," I said, and I swiveled my head to see the wedding ship in the distance. It hadn't left port yet. The man followed my gaze, and understood.

"Then you must go to her," he said, "with all the speed you possess." He lay his hand on my shoulder, looked at me fondly, and said, "Run."

He gave me a shove and I stumbled forward, then broke off into a run. I was dashing down the beach toward the port and the ship in the distance, and behind me the man was laughing loudly and happily. He shouted me on, and it echoed in my ears until he was too far back for me to hear. I didn't look back. I kept my eyes on the ship; it could leave port at any moment. The sun was getting dangerously low in the sky, and I knew if I wasn't in the water the moment it hit the horizon, I would be stuck on land forever. But it didn't matter to me anymore.

I arrived at the port sweating and panting for breath, just as the last of the wedding guests were boarding the ship. I followed them onto the deck, and then the sailors cast off and the ship was sailing away. The deck was crowded with guests waiting for the wedding to commence, all dressed in colorful suits and huge bulging ball gowns. I shoved my way through the crowd, very rudely I admit, searching for a glimpse of familiar red hair. I didn't see her anywhere. She must be below deck somewhere, or in the cabin. I had never been to a wedding, but I figured the bride wouldn't come out until the wedding began.

I pushed my way through the crowd, people gasping in shock or yelling at me in anger, until I had fought my way to the staircase the led below deck. I dashed down the stairs and then down the hallway, glancing into rooms and not finding what I was looking for. Finally I heard the voices of girls chatting and giggling, and I stopped in front of a half-open door. There were a dozen girls in matching bridesmaid gowns, all talking eagerly, and surrounding another girl in a long veil and white dress.

I wasn't sure what I intended to do; I hadn't thought it over very well. All I knew was I had to tell Ariel the truth. She had the right to know. I didn't expect her to pick me, but the choice was still hers to make. I burst through the doorway, slamming the door open, and all the girls gasped and spun around to stare at me.

"Ariel, wait," I shouted. "I have to tell you-" But then I stopped. The bride had spun around to reveal a girl with long brown hair, kind brown eyes, and a confused expression on her face. The bride wasn't Ariel.

...

I would learn the whole story eventually, by Ariel writing it down and having Sebastian read it aloud. Here's what had happened.

That morning Ariel had woke up and come downstairs to find the Prince with a beautiful girl not much older than herself, with long brown hair and gentle eyes. She had something that Ariel did not: a voice. She and Eric were chatting and laughing happily, and Eric had introduced her to Ariel as Princess Miranda. She was the princess of a neighboring country, and Eric's parents had arranged with hers that she would come and meet Eric, in the hopes of a union between their two countries. Eric hadn't been too happy about being pressured into it, and in fact had been dreading it, but upon meeting Miranda in person, they both had realized they had met before. Some years back, both of them had run away from home, and had happened to meet each other and become friends. Neither had told the other they were in fact royalty. But eventually they had both been caught and brought home by their parents, both still unaware of the others' true identity. Eric said he had been searching for Miranda for years, and here she showed up as the neighboring country's princess. Both were equally surprised and delighted. It was obviously fate. It even seemed so to me, and I wasn't sure yet I believed in fate. Eric announced their engagement at once, and wished to be married that very day.

"You are my good friend," Eric had said to Ariel, taking her hands, "And so I know you will rejoice in my happiness."

Ariel hugged and kissed them both to express her happiness for them. She gladly accepted Miranda's invitation to be one of her bridesmaids. She was genuinely happy for them, even though she knew what it meant for her: come sunset, she would belong to the Sea Witch forever. It was her last day of freedom on the earth.

She said that even if the Prince had proposed to her, she couldn't have accepted. Not at that point. She was a different person than she was three days ago. We both were. She thought fondly of him, but wasn't in love with him anymore. She doubted she ever really had been.

The entire palace was already preparing their wedding ship. Ariel had slipped upstairs to find me and Sebastian, where she discovered that we were under the impression that _she _was the one getting married. She hadn't the heart to tell us the truth. She didn't want us to know that, come sunset, she would belong to the Sea Witch, and was probably better off dead. She knew there was nothing we could to save her. So she had gone along with us, and pretended to be happy and excited.

Then I had slipped off, thinking she was happy and getting married, and not wanting to see the wedding myself. Sebastian had decided to leave and find King Triton, to tell him the good news. Then Ariel had cried because she was alone, and would never see her father and sisters again, and it was all her own doing. She thought about the dagger her sisters had bought, and found it in my room where I had left it. She toyed with the idea, but decided she could never hurt the Prince, who had been kind to her after all. She took the dagger, stood in front of the mirror, and sawed off her long hair, to be like her sisters. Then she stood on the beach and threw the dagger into the sea. Blood-red bubbles rose where it fell, and it sank beneath the waves.

She had been planning on being a bridesmaid, and carrying the train of Miranda's dress as she walked down the aisle, but she changed her mind. There was something else she wanted to do, before the Sea Witch came to claim her forever. So she ran away from the wedding, and went looking for the person she wanted to see, before it was too late.

She had gone looking for me.

...

Now I stood in front of the bride, expecting to find Ariel, but instead finding this other girl who I had never met before. I didn't understand at first, and then it hit me like a tidal wave. Ariel wasn't the bride, and never had been. I had never actually heard anyone say Ariel was the bride; I had only assumed. But it had really been this girl the whole time.

Ariel had known all along. But then why had she let me believe she was the one getting married? The answer hit me once again: she didn't want me to be worried about her. She knew she had lost in her deal with the Sea Witch, and there was nothing any of us could do about it. Come sunset, she would belong to Ursula. And she knew it. I remembered her look of dismay and sadness when I told her the news of the wedding. She had known the Prince was marrying someone else. And yet she hadn't told me or Sebastian the truth. She hadn't wanted to cause us any more pain.

The bride and bridesmaids were still staring at me, and I blushed and said, "I'm very sorry. I'm looking for someone. A girl named Ariel, with red hair. She doesn't speak."

"There was such a girl here," the bride said kindly. "She was a friend of the Prince's. She was to be one of my bridesmaids. But she's gone missing. We looked for her, but she isn't on the ship anywhere. The Prince said she might have gone to find her friend, who had also gone missing. I assume you are that friend."

"I am," I said, and I cursed inwardly. Ariel had gone to find me. I should never have left her at all. In a few minutes the sun would set, and she would belong to the Sea Witch. I had to find her, and, somehow, I would save her. I would kill the Sea Witch if I had to.

"Thank you, ladies," I said hurriedly. "I have to go and find her." I turned to the bride. "Congratulations on your marriage to the Prince," I told her. "I know you'll be happy together." I meant it; they were both kind people. She smiled at me as I dashed away, back down the hallway and up the stairs onto the deck. If Ariel wasn't on the ship, where was she? I fought my way to the railing and saw a figure in the distance, a figure with a familiar red head. She was alone on the beach, hurrying along the shoreline, and I wondered where she was going. Then I realized she was looking for me.

"Ariel!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. The crowd of wedding guests all turned to stare at me, making faces of distaste. I was making a scene. I didn't care. "Ariel, wait for me!" I shouted, and I scrambled on top of the railing and fell right over. After a long fall I hit the water with a splash, and started flailing my arms and legs to keep afloat. "Ariel!" I kept shouting, my mouth filling up with seawater. Swimming was harder without a tailfin, and without being able to breath underwater. Luckily the ship wasn't far out yet, and I fought my way to shore and clumsily stumbled out of the water. All the guests had shifted to one side of the ship in order to watch me. Ariel was some ways down the beach, and she hadn't heard me yet.

I ran as fast as I could, my feet pounding the sand, shouting her name at the top of my lungs. She was wearing a blue dress, wet and soiled at the bottom, and she had cut off her hair, like her sisters. She turned in surprise and saw me, and broke into the widest smile. She was smiling and crying at the same time. She ran to meet me, and at last we collided and she threw her arms around my neck. I took her in my arms and hugged her more tightly than I ever had before. She cried into my shoulder, and I held her head against me, my fingers in her hair. It fell in short messy locks around her shoulders and in her face. I pushed the hair out of her face and lifted her chin up, to meet her eyes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked. "Why didn't you tell me you weren't marrying the Prince? Ariel, if I had known, I would have asked you to marry me myself."

She smiled and cried harder, but shook her head. She pointed to the sea and gave me a little shove in that direction. I knew what she meant; she was saying I had to be back in the sea at sunset. Otherwise I could never go home either.

"I'm not going without you," I said.

_But the Sea Witch!_ she mouthed silently, and gave me another little shove.

"I don't care!" I shouted. "I won't let her take you. And I won't go back to the sea without you. I don't care if I'm on land or sea; it's all the same to me. I just want to be with you. You're the only home I ever had."

She looked at me with her blue eyes, filled with water. She tried to say something, but I couldn't make it out. I was no good at lip-reading. She hung her head in frustration. I took her hands. "And I don't care if you can't talk. Do you hear me, Ariel?" I said, and lifted her chin up again to meet her eyes. "I'll learn to lip-read; I'll learn to read and write. I'll do anything it takes. I'll follow you anywhere. Ariel, you said you wanted to be part of another world. But the only world I ever wanted to be a part of was yours." The sun was setting, sinking quickly on the horizon. But I didn't notice. "Ariel," I said, grasping her hands, "Marry me, Ariel. Marry me, and be part of my world."

She squeezed my hands and smiled and nodded happily, the water streaming down her cheeks. The sky darkened around us as I pulled her toward me, put my hand on her cheek, and kissed her. I had never kissed anyone before, but I kissed her like I had been waiting my entire life to do it. Maybe I had. We broke apart just as the fiery orange sun sank completely beneath the waves, and was lost from sight.

We stood there a moment as the sky darkened around us, and then there was a splashing noise in the water and someone calling Ariel's name. It was Flounder, jumping up out of the waves.

"Ariel!" he shouted, and she turned to him and waved happily. "Ariel, the sun's gone down!" he said excitedly. "And you're still human! Does that mean you got the Prince to kiss you?"

She shook her head, still smiling. She still couldn't speak. But she still had legs. She looked around, confused. She had expected to turn back to a mermaid and for the Sea Witch to come and claim her. "Ariel," I said, blushing, "Your contract didn't say the kiss had to come from the Prince. All it said was…" Her face lit up as she looked at me in realization, and she blushed at the same time. "It just said a kiss of true love," I finished bashfully.

"But if it the Prince didn't kiss you," Flounder shouted out, floating on top of a wave, "then who did?"

Ariel and I looked at him awkwardly, then both started laughing. Flounder looked confused for a moment, and then his face lit up when he realized. Ariel didn't make any sound when she laughed, but she was beautiful, her shorn red hair falling around her smiling face. Her contract with the Sea Witch had been fulfilled. She would never have her voice again, but she got to keep her legs, and her freedom. My contract was ended too. I hadn't been in the water when the sun went down, so now I would stay human the same as Ariel. Land or water didn't matter to me anymore. I just wanted to be wherever she was.


	5. Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Sebastian swam up on the beach a while later, bringing King Triton and his six daughters behind him. He had left under the impression Ariel was marrying the Prince, and had gone to tell her family the good news. Triton and his daughters had come to wish her congratulations, and to say good-bye. They swam up into the shallows, calling and waving to us. Ariel ran forward, splashing clumsily, and threw herself into her father's arms. Then she hugged each of her sisters in a row, kissing each of them. Her family was delighted to see her safe, and not in the clutches of the Sea Witch. But they were a little confused. They had expected to come and find Ariel married to the Prince, probably wearing a wedding dress and surrounded by well-wishers. But instead they had found just her and I, wearing wet dirty clothes, and Ariel's hair cut off the same as her sisters.

"My daughter," Triton said, holding her face, "I was afraid I would never see you again. I was afraid Ursula would claim you and keep you forever. Now I find you here safe and untouched by her, and I am more grateful than words can say. But I assumed I would have your human prince to thank for this. Sebastian told me you were marrying him. Where is he?"

Ariel shook her head, and started to mouth words. I couldn't understand what she was saying, but Triton watched her carefully and apparently could make out everything she said. I wished I could do that. I was sure I could learn how if I tried hard enough. She looked sad and ashamed as she spoke, and I guessed she was telling them how sorry she was she had run away, and how sorry she was for hurting them, and how she loved and missed them. They kissed her and forgave her. Then she said some more, though I still couldn't make it out, but I think she was explaining what had happened.

At last Ariel finished with a smile, and Triton laughed heartily. "So I have none other than the little merboy Urchin to thank for saving my daughter!" I went red all over. She had been talking about me. Triton swam up next to me and put his hand on my shoulder. "You've grown into a fine young man," he said. "Ariel has told me everything you've done for her, and now there is no one else in the world I would trust with my daughter more than you."

"King Triton," I asked, "Is there any way you can bring Ariel home? Is there anything you can do?"

"The two of you made contracts with the Sea Witch," he said sternly. "It was foolish and reckless of you both. Luckily I think both of you have learned your lesson. However, contracts are binding, and Ursula's magic is strong. There is a good chance I can change Ariel back, but only because she is my daughter, and my magic is stronger with her. I can't return her voice, but I can bring her home. For you, Urchin, I'm very sorry, but I don't have the power to change you back. Perhaps someday if we catch Ursula - but at the moment she has disappeared again, and her magic is too strong for me to touch."

I felt downhearted then, because Ariel could go home and I couldn't. I didn't mind so much not being able to go home, because I didn't have much of a home to return to. But once again I was faced with never being able to see Ariel again.

Ariel silently mouthed something to her father, and he looked at her seriously and said, "Are you sure, Ariel? Is this your decision?"

She nodded, and to my surprise walked over to me and took my arm, smiling at her father and sisters.

"My daughter has told me," Triton said to me, "That she would go home if both of you could. But she will not return without you. If you must stay on land, then so will she."

I looked at Ariel with wide eyes. "But Ariel," I protested. "What about your father, and your sisters? You should go home, really! You don't have to worry about me."

Ariel stayed on my arm and looked resolute. "If she had chosen anything else," Triton said, "I would not be so proud of her."

I looked at Ariel smiling at me, and saw how much we both had changed. We weren't the same people we were when we first met. We weren't even the same people we were three days ago, when we washed up on the shore of a strange new world. We had made mistakes and learned from them, and realized what was really important to us. We realized it had been in front of us the entire time, but we had to go through all of those trials and all of those mistakes just to see it there.

Three days ago, she had been a girl running away from home, and I had been just a boy chasing after her. Now we were grown up, and smarter and less selfish, and we were in love.

"Then I have just one thing left to ask of you," I said to Triton, pulling gently away from Ariel and stepping up to him. "I must ask you for your daughter's hand in marriage."

Triton and all his daughters beamed. They didn't laugh, or scowl, or even frown, as I had once feared. The girls took me in their arms and hugged and kissed me, and Triton took me in his arms and smiled and told me he accepted. Then Ariel kissed each one of them again, as they all said their good-byes. They were all crying, but more for happiness than sadness. They were sure they would see each other again. Ariel picked up Sebastian and Flounder and kissed them too. At last she pulled from her father's arms and waded onto the shoreline where I stood waiting. I took her hand, and we waved good-bye as the others swam off into the distance. They waved and shouted and blew kisses at us, and finally disappeared beneath the waves.

We stood together on the shore of that strange new world, the world Ariel had always dreamed about. It was our world now. We figured we would return to the palace and give our fond regards to the Prince and his new bride. Then I would take her and introduce her to the human friends I had made, the man and woman who had found me on the shore and taken me in. But we wouldn't stay for long. The world was too big, and full of too much, and we wanted to see it all. It would be just like the old days of us exploring and having adventures, except they would be better than ever. Now we could walk and run and sing and dance, just like Ariel had always dreamed of, and now I had a home, just like I had dreamed of. This was Ariel's story, but I had interfered and changed things around. I had rewritten the ending. But it was a good ending, and we couldn't imagine it any other way.

I looked at her, and she smiled.

"We're going to live happily ever after," I said.

THE END


End file.
